The province’s popular Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corp. programming (NOHFC) is going under review.
According to a news release, the review will “strengthen NOHFC programs and help create jobs by focusing investment with the 11 emerging and priority economic sectors identified in the Growth Plan for Northern Ontario.”
Programs will now come under one of four themes: private sector job creation; supporting Northern community infrastructure; enhancing economic development capacity; stimulating commercialization, innovation and productivity; and attracting and retaining talent.
“The NOHFC has a proud past and our program review ensures it will continue to build a strong future,” said Michael Gravelle, northern development and mines minister and NOHFC chair, in the release.
“We listened to our Northern stakeholders and I am confident that over the next two months we will put forward revised NOHFC programs that will help create a stronger, more diverse, sustainable and prosperous northern economy.”
NOHFC will continue to accept applications under its current programs until Sept. 30. Revised NOHFC programs are scheduled to be launched by the end of October.
This year, the fund is marking 25 years in existence. Since 2003, NOHFC has committed more than $890 million to about 5,800 projects, creating or retaining nearly 23,000 jobs in Northern Ontario.
